National Football News, Baseball News

NBA wrap: Bradley Beal, Kelly Oubre Jr. lead Wizards past Pistons

March 9, 2018

The Wizards, down 10 points to the Pistons after the first quarter, had already caught up by halftime, but they did most of their damage in the third.

Washington outscored the Pistons 45-28 in the first 12 minutes of the second half, taking control of the game on the road, ultimately leading to a 122-112 win. Bradley Beal and Kelly Oubre Jr. were a big part of the comeback, scoring 26 points apiece.

The two combined to shoot 9 of 16 from 3-point range, lighting up the scoreboard while the Pistons looked helpless on defense. Oubre added five rebounds, while Beal had three rebounds and three assists.

Kings forward Justin Jackson is going to receive opportunities with Sacramento’s new youth movement, but he didn’t take advantage of his situation Friday, scoring just three points with one rebound and zero assists in a 106-88 loss to the Grizzlies.

Thunder (25-20) at Cavaliers (27-17) 3:30 p.m. ET — The Cavs, losers in nine of their last 13 games, have been linked with a number of possible trade targets, including Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. The Thunder have looked more impressive lately, but the three-headed monster of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony still hasn’t clicked. LeBron James could reach 30,000 career points in this game.

Cleveland knew the season was going to be rough in the beginning as they were not expecting to have guard Isaiah Thomas playing until January. Thomas is back in the lineup but still the team is mired in problems.

The Cavaliers are 2-3 with Thomas on the court and are allowing 123 points per game in those five outings. Cleveland is 25th in the league in points allowed per game, and are allowing nearly 18 points more per time out with Thomas on the court.

James talked about having a consistent plan on the court earlier this year and how that made the defense better during their 13-game winning streak. The team has not yet had that consistency with Thomas on the court. He has missed two of the last five games and has been on a minutes restriction as well.

The Penguins had dropped five straight to the Flames, including a 2-1 overtime loss in Calgary in November back when they played very much like a team dealing with a Stanley Cup hangover. Four months later, Pittsburgh is again looking like a threat to make a deep playoff run and wasted little time sprinting to a 2-0 lead.